


The Magic Inside

by Anonymous



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rebuilding Hogwarts, Worldbuilding, Worldbuilding Exchange 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 18:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30127266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It's time for Hogwarts to heal — and that healing starts inside.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6
Collections: Worldbuilding Exchange 2021





	The Magic Inside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parcequelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parcequelle/gifts).



It was an easy decision, even after everything.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go home for a while, Granger? You’ve already done much more than you should have.” Professor McGonagall had looked her over, probably taking in the bags under her eyes and the way the exhaustion seemed to physically hang off of her, but she had shaken her head quickly and immediately. 

“No,” she’d said. “Hogwarts is where I need to be. I want to help fix the castle.”

“Understood,” McGonagall had said, but then she had pointed up the great staircase, past the holes and the broken bannisters, to the upper floors. “But first you need to get a good night of sleep. And that’s an order.”

Hermione hadn’t had it in her to argue with the professor, even if she had wanted to. Living on the run, fighting the Dark Lord, watching her friends — people she cared about, people she loved — die, it had taken a toll. And even though a part of her knew that once she could help heal Hogwarts, she might be able to help heal herself, she also knew she wouldn’t be able to do much if her brain was foggy and her arm could barely lift a wand.

So she found herself up in Gryffindor Tower that night, two days after Harry killed Voldemort, toppling into the bed that had once been hers. There were cracks in the walls around the dormitory, and the window was broken, but it was in good condition compared to most of the castle, and nothing she needed to worry about right then.

Instead, she found some clean sheets in a drawer and changed the ones on the bed, and then she let herself fall on to the bed and into a deep slumber, exhausted and grief-struck, relieved and grateful all at once.

She awoke to the sun high in the sky, pouring through the window. She blinked a few times, stretching her arms, and trying to chase off the last remnants of sleep. She could tell she had missed a good portion of the day, judging by the amount of voices outside her window.

She pulled herself out of bed and over to the broken glass. Down below, she could see people — a mix of students and parents and Hogwarts alumni — gathered in small groups, wands focused on different parts of the castle as bricks and paint and plaster repaired itself.

It was time for her to get to work as well.

“I want you with me, Granger,” Professor McGonagall said when Hermione presented herself to her, dressed in a fresh pair of robes she’d had stored in her little beaded bag.

She followed Professor McGonagall inside the castle, up to the fifth floor and to a portion of the wall that had been completely ripped away. Hermione tried not to think of the wall that had fallen and killed Fred. Instead, she focused on what was in front of her and what Professor McGonagall was saying.

A few others were with them as well — Professor Sprout, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and a few younger Hufflepuffs she recognized but didn’t know very well. She went to stand beside Neville and Luna.

“As you all know,” Professor McGonagall was saying. “The castle is protected by very old and very powerful magic. The founders meant for it to be impenetrable, and only the worst betrayal could break its walls, something that unfortunately happened here just a few nights ago.”

Everyone nodded solemnly as Professor McGonagall continued. “Because of the magic that built these walls, and the magic that pulled them apart, it cannot simply be restored by a wave of a wand or a small incantation. It takes powerful magic, from a group of powerful witches and wizards, to be able to work — to restore these walls and to protect them, for the future generations of Hogwarts.”

Those standing around Professor McGonagall looked over at each other, expressions both filled with confusion and almost pride. Did she mean them? They were the powerful witches and wizards?

“Yes, I mean you,” McGonagall said, as though she could read their thoughts. “Together we will work to rebuild the castle and all the magic it needs, but first we must practice.”

She had them line up, side by side, and then, almost as if they were in class, they practiced the incantations and the wand movements until Professor McGonagall was sure they were each doing them correctly and perfectly.

“Your voices must be strong, your wand movements precise, your words firm,” McGonagall told them. “There can be no hesitation, no wavering! The magic must flow through you and through your wands!”

They practiced for what felt like hours, as the sun moved higher into the sky and then began its descent. Outside, through the wall that no longer existed, Hermione could see the other groups still working on the external structure.

“Do those outside not need as powerful of magic?” one of the Hufflepuffs asked at one point, after all of them were nearing the point of exhaustion.

“The source of the protection comes from inside the walls,” McGonagall explained. “The outside is built to withstand and protect, but the magic that flows through the castle starts in here.”

She let them rest after a while, to sit on the floor and munch on some food and drink some water and watch the flashes and sparks of the wands outside do their thing. Some of the groups below were beginning to move up the walls, balanced on brooms and floating pieces of wood, but most of them were still yards beneath where they were.

Finally, as the sun began to set, Professor McGonagall told them it was time.

“This is the magical hour,” she said.

She instructed them to get back into a line, side by side, to let their shoulders touch.

“There is more power together than apart,” she said.

And then she commanded them to start.

It was nothing Hermione had ever expected. A feeling came over her, rushed through her, power and magic and a feeling of connection she had never experienced. They said the words and flicked their wands, and light and power poured out of all of them, and as they came together, as one entity, the walls began to reform, the stone began to rebuild, and the magic they were making began to infuse back inside the castle, and Hermione smiled as she worked, as she chanted, as she waved her wand, because after years of death and destruction, it really did feel like she, and the castle, were both beginning to heal.


End file.
